Our hormones play an essential role in regulating our moods daily and keeping us happy. While feeling blue and depressed is common for almost everyone, triggering these hormones can help us stay happy and go through our day more productively. But, what are these chemicals? And, how do you activate them? Could you keep reading to know all about them? Known as Happy Chemicals, there are ways in which you can trigger them to gain momentary happiness.
What Are Happy Chemicals?
Happy Chemicals is just a collective name used to refer to the four hormones responsible for our moods. These hormones are namely, Dopamine, Endorphin, Oxytocin, and Serotonin. These hormones, also called neurotransmitters or brain chemicals, immensely affect our happiness levels. While the function and methods of triggering these chemicals are separate, they help achieve the same task of elevating your mood.
Dopamine (The Happy Hormone)
Dopamine is a hormone produced by the Hypothalamus and helps in bringing feelings of pleasure. This feeling of satisfaction can include anything, from happiness at accomplishing a task or meeting long-awaited goals, to more simple things, like someone liking your Instagram post! Another example of it is Pleasure and happiness from getting acknowledged by your superior or falling in love result from dopamine release.
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If you want to trigger this hormone, eating delicious food, shopping for your favorite items, or engaging in sex is easy. However, as easy as it is to improve your mood with this, the effects also wear off fast! This is why we feel good after shopping for clothes or just simply gorging on delicious food!
Endorphin (The Energy Hormone)
Endorphins are the body’s most common response to pain or discomfort. Known as a natural pain-reliever, this hormone is often released when engaging in high-level activities, such as running. When we usually see athletes going on despite suffering from injuries or visibly in pain, this hormone is the one that enables them to continue, keepi9ng their pain levels under control and relieving them of the pain, only to replace it with a feeling of accomplishment and resolve. So, the most common way of triggering this hormone is by working out, justifying why many workout enthusiasts feel good after a strenuous session.
Oxytocin (The Love Hormone)
This hormone is generally associated with childbirth and pregnancy. However, you don’t need to get pregnant to release this hormone! Since this chemical is related to innate feelings of love, trust, and empathy towards someone, intimate activities like an intimate touch, sex, cuddling, and kissing are also sufficient to release this hormone. This hormone is why we love spending time with our partners, and it also helps make those feelings go deeper.
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Serotonin (The Feel-Good Hormone)
Satisfaction and feeling important are crucial for releasing this hormone, which is why it is known as the “feel-good” hormone. It helps in stabilizing your mood and helps achieve overall wellbeing. The lack of this hormone is why you feel depressed. So, activities guaranteed to increase satisfaction, such as a good night’s sleep, engaging in workout and exercise, and spending a productive day outside, can help boost Serotonin levels.
Why Are Happy Chemicals Important?
These happy chemicals are essential for us to live a happy life. Being satisfied with your life and achieving happiness in small and large things is crucial for achieving an overall sense of wellbeing. While bad days are bound to come in our lives, these hormones help counter them and make us feel happy, even temporarily.
However, for some activities like exercising, it can lead to long-term satisfaction due to improved health. So, while happy chemicals are small bursts of temporary happiness, continually engaging in activities that trigger them can help us achieve long-term happiness as well! Such things can help us achieve satisfaction in the long term as well.
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How To Boost Our Happy Chemicals Daily?
The methods of boosting the levels of each chemical are different since they make us feel differently and have other impacts on our moods. However, with the following activities, you can quickly increase your daily levels of Happy Chemicals:
- Spending intimate times with your partner (kissing, cuddling, having sex)
- Exercising and working out
- Massage therapies
- Watching a good movie
- Listening to feel-good music
- Meditating
- Taking walks in fresh air
- Having a good night’s sleep
- Reading a good book
- Eating delicious food
- Shopping or window shopping
In Conclusion, Although the methods of triggering the four happy chemicals are different, you must activate all four to achieve holistic wellbeing and ultimate happiness. So, while activities like exercising and taking walks may need you to have the resolve and tenacity to continue regularly, the impact of such actions on your mental health and mood will be undeniable.
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